Yearlong Project Options: Choose ONE of the four to focus on.
C-SPAN Studen CAM 2017: What urgent issue should our next president address?
The following information is taken from their website, “StudentCam is C-SPAN's annual national video documentary competition that encourages students to think critically about issues that affect our communities and our nation. Students in grades 6-12 were asked to create a short (5-7 minute) video documentary on a topic related to the competition theme. Students may compete individually, or in teams of either 2 or 3 members. All documentaries must contain a small amount of supporting C-SPAN footage that relates to the chosen topic. C-SPAN’s philosophy is to show varying sides of each issue. Winning StudentCam documentaries will also show a variety of points of view related to the chosen topic.” This year’s competition opens after Labor Day, and the theme is, “Your Message to Washington” – What is the most urgent issue for the new President and Congress to address in 2017? The final product of this project is a documentary than can be uploaded or turned into a DVD. If you are competing the projects are due January 20th to the C-SPAN student cam website.
National History Day (NHD): Take a stand
This fall interested students should pick a topic that relates to the 2017 theme: Taking a Stand in History. Students will create a thesis and conduct in-depth historical research. By December students should complete their initial research of primary and secondary sources. Starting in January students should complete their National History Day project (final products - documentary, exhibit, paper, performance or website) and their Annotated Works Cited. In March the top individuals or groups will have a chance to revise their projects and then go to the State National History Day Competition – date and location TBD. From there, the top two projects in each category qualify for nationals which is held in June at College Park, Maryland just out of Washington, DC. SMS students have successfully participated at the State and National levels the past two years.
Project Citizen: Understand public policy and make a difference
Are you interested in solving problems? If so, this is the project for you. Project Citizen guides students in learning about public policy, conducting research about a community (local, state, national, or global) problem, creating their own policies to solve community issues, and creating an action plan. Students develop a portfolio of all of their work (research, letters, emails, etc), and present to a panel of community members or experts on the policy topic. This provides students an opportunity to see how government works, and to engage in the real world. At a prior school, Project Citizen, led to students advocating for a city recycling program which involved the students attending meetings with the Mayor, County Commissioners, and the School Board. Eventually a recycling program was implemented, and the students were a part of that process! The final product of this project includes the portfolio and a display board.
Personal History: Connect your families stories to history
Learning about your families history is a valuable endeavor. Through this project students will begin by looking into their family tree including when and where their ancestors lived. Students may engage in “detective work” using online tools to learn more about family members and to place their personal stories in the greater context of U.S. History. For example if a student discovers that their great-grandfather enlisted in World War II they would also look into why and what his role was. They may also create a map that shows the various locations where he trained and served. Finally, students would also need to develop a general understanding of what World War II was. The final product of this project could be a book, documentary, exhibit, paper, performance, or website. Possible useful websites: check out the Bozeman Library link (let me know if you do NOT have a library card) and https://www.loc.gov/folklife/familyfolklife/index.html
